Roadmap to Moderate Network Building - Part 4: Engaging the Muslim World.

Previous article - Part 3: Defining Contemporary Islam

Now that we've established a clear definition of what RAND refers to as Moderate, Radical, and everything in between in the previous article, we can now explore some of RAND's plans of engagement with the Muslim world. Before we go on further, it is important to note the difference between Terrorism and Radical Islamism as defined by RAND. While Terrorism is a more violent form of Radical Islamism, Radical Islamism deals with the connection of religion and state and the disregard of some features of freedom of religion, and expression. The following are excerpts that highlights RAND's objective for engagement.

"In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a great deal of resources and attention were devoted to the physical security of American citizens and territory. At the same time, with the recognition that combating terrorism was not only a matter of bringing terrorists to justice and diminishing their capacity to operate, there was an effort to understand and address the “root causes” of terrorism. The National Security Strategy document of September 2002 elucidated a refined conception of security that emphasizes the consequences of internal conditions of other states—particularly the lack of democracy. This theme was to be reinforced over the course of the next several years, from the 9/11 Commission Report to, perhaps most dramatically, President Bush’s second inaugural address.

From its prominence in a series of high-profile documents and speeches, the President’s “Freedom Agenda” can be considered a U.S. “grand strategy” in the Global War on Terrorism. However, a consensus on how to identify and support partners in the “war of ideas” has not yet emerged. Specifically, there is currently no explicit U.S. policy to help build moderate Muslim networks, although such networkbuilding activity is taking place as a by-product of other U.S. assistance programs. At the heart of the approach we propose is making the building of moderate Muslim networks an explicit goal of U.S. government programs."

As of 2007, in many parts of the Muslim World, there were only few existing moderate networks that are able to comply with the U.S' criterias for network building. There were also many "repressive" and authoritative regimes in the Muslim world that makes moderate network building a much more difficult process. RAND further specifies two key areas of engagement that the U.S. is currently focusing on:

Democracy Promotion

Overtly and covertly, US emphasizes adopting liberal democratic values of equity, tolerance, pluralism, rule of law, political reform, economic reform, women's empowerment and respect for civil and human rights. This includes translating policies into organizations. Some of the nonprofit organizations funded by the U.S. government includes the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Asia Foundation, National Democratic Institute, and the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). These organizations are structured to support NGOs that are a right fit for the network of Moderate Muslims. It is notable that the only democracy that RAND believes in, is democracy that does not side with Islamists. As mentioned in the report,

"In addition, because the liberal process of democratization can lead to illiberal electoral results, most notably in the recent victory of Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya [the Islamic Resistance Movement] (HAMAS) in the Palestinian Territories, there is increasing wariness about pressing secular authoritarians to open their political systems if there is a risk that radical Islamists will take their place."

RAND believes that moderate network building could use democracy by:

1. Bolstering networks where (moderate) political parties exist.
2. Identifying and promoting potential networks where moderate individuals / organizations lack clear direction or ability to form allies.
3. Organize programs with moderate substance to promote current conditions of moderation.

"Invariably, the work of these institutions is well respected among U.S. officials and analysts, as well as local activists. Though their operating budgets come from the U.S. government,12 their activities maintain a higher degree of credibility among recipient communities than if the programs were promoted directly by U.S. government agencies; it is accepted that their mission is assisting local forces of reform, not imposing it from the outside."

Civil Society Development

Civil societies are foundations for democracy. The objectives of civil society development is to "stand in opposition to forces brought by the state". Civil society development must include programs that promote the Democracy, economic opportunity, independent and responsible media, environmental protection, minority and gender rights, and  access to healthcare and education. 

Similar to democracy promotion, U.S policies toward civil society development exist on three levels:

1. Strengthening existing organizations. In this case, minimal levels of financial, organizational, and technical support are needed.
2. Promoting new ones.
3. Contributing to an environment of moderation. This includes promotion and promotion of freedom of speech.

"One idea, put forth by analysts such as Dennis Ross, is for the United States to identify committed reformers to initiate a “secular da’wa,” by which forces of moderation would be associated with tangible improvements in living conditions. This concept was endorsed throughout the Cold War through the establishment of agencies such as USAID and the Peace Corps."

RAND's "grand strategy" of building moderate muslim networks is divided into three levels:

1. Existing networks: Bolster and enhance promotion of pro-democracy organizations. It is not a requirement for these organizations to completely agree with U.S. policies. The farther the distance between the organization and the U.S., the more effective.
2. Potential networks: Identify and promote the inception and growth of these potential networks. Such effort may include direct or indirect funding, and media promotion.
3. External conditions: For these networks to foster favorable growth, there is a need to amplify current external conditions of pluralism and tolerance in respective countries.

In executing this "grand strategy", RAND has determined that some of the biggest obstacles to this strategy are authoritarian governments that prohibit the formation of NGOs (or NGOs of certain ideologies), or the use of laws to expulse officials or suspend activities.

Identifying Key Partners and Audiences

"A critical part of U.S. network-building efforts, as well as in its broader public diplomacy and strategic communications policy, is identifying key partners and audiences. Difficulties in distinguishing potential allies from adversaries present a major problem to Western governments and organizations attempting to organize support for moderate Muslims. Work done by the RAND Corporation—in Cheryl Benard’s Civil Democratic Islam and Angel Rabasa et al., The Muslim World After 9/11—has begun to lay the framework for identifying ideological tendencies in the Muslim world,1 which is necessary in order to identify the sectors with which the United States and its allies can be most effective in promoting democracy and stability to counter the influence of extremist and violent groups."

RAND corporation understands that there is a substantial divide in the Muslims' religious, political, and social orientation. Views on human rights and religious minorities are some of the many key issues that divide the Muslims. RAND refers to those issues as "marker issues" or issues that sets apart one Muslim sect with the other.

Characteristic of Moderate Muslims

1. Democracy: Democratic values are universal and not contingent on particular contexts.Some Moderate Muslims seek to contextualize quranic texts in ways that support democratic values based on the ideas of shura. In either case, what matters is the result. This group believes in unequivocal support for pluralism and universal human rights.
2. Nonsectarian Sources of Law: They believe that conservative interpretations of sharia are incompatible with democracy.
3. Woman's rights and religious minorities: Moderates are open to religious pluralism and interfaith dialogues. They believe that the Quran and Sunnah should be reinterpreted on the basis that the current scenario is different from the past.
4. Terrorism: They oppose terrorism but still believes in the concept of  the just war.

RAND believes that the promotion of Muslims with these beliefs on key issues should be the main target for network building.

Potential Partners

Secularists

Three types of secularists:

1. Liberal secularists: Hold liberal and western social-democratic values. They believe in the separation of political and religious spheres but are not hostile to public manifestations of religion. 
2. Anti-clericalists: Their beliefs are close to the Ataturk and laicete viewpoints. Displays of religious identity are prohibited in schools or official spaces. An example of a dominant anti-clericalist country is Turkey.
3. Authoritarian secularists: Baathists, Nasserites, neo-Communists fall into this category. They are theoretically hostile to Islamism and in some cases uses Islam for their political interests.

Liberal Muslims

Liberal muslims advocate an agenda that is compatible with Western notions of democracy and pluralism. They may come from many different schools of thoughts; they may be modernists that seek to bring core values of islam into harmony with the modern world, or they could even come from a traditionalist background. Regardless of background, they have consistent beliefs in democracy, pluralism, human rights, and individual freedoms.

"The name of “Liberal Islam” illustrate[s] our fundamental principles; Islam which emphasizes on “private liberties” (according to Mu’tazilah’s doctrine regarding “human liberties”), and “liberation” of socio-political structure from the unhealthy and oppressing domination. The “liberal” adjective has two meanings: “liberty” (being liberal) and “liberating.” Please note that we do not believe in Islam as such—Islam without any adjective as some people argued. Islam is impossible without adjective, in fact Islam [has] been interpreted in so many different ways in accordance to the interpreter’s need. We choose a genre of interpretation, and by this way, we selected an adjective for Islam, it is “liberal.” - Liberal Islam Network."

Liberals seek to revamp many of Islamic traditions and principles to suit many conditions that exist today. Examples include corporal punishments that are no longer relevant and needs to be modernized. They believe that sharia is a product of historical circumstances of the past.

Moderate Traditionalists and Sufis

A great example of a moderate Sufi Islam is Fethullah Gulen. Gulen opposes state's enforcement of Islamic law, pointing out that most Islamic regulations are private and only a few are related to public governance. He believes in the separation of religion and state. He thinks that tolerance and dialogue to Christians and Jews are essential.

Should Islamists be Engaged?

Now comes the important question; should the U.S. engage (oppose) Islamists during the network building process? Firstly, Islamists are simply Muslims (regardless of school of thought) with political agendas. More specifically, Islamists reject separation of religion and state; they seek recognition of sharia as the basis of law.

Three conditions that requires engagement (opposition) towards Islamists :

1. When Islamists represent the only viable alternative to current authoritarian regimes (such of the case of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and HAMAS).
2. When Islamists have evolved to support multi-religious democracy, women's rights and etc.
3. When Islamists are more likely to be successful in silencing terrorists.

Three arguments for the support of Moderate Islamists(Less radical Islamists) are:

1. RAND does not know whether Moderate Islamists are lowering its radical discourse as a strategy or tactical shift. If they have changed their discourse, do they now agree on separation of state and religion? This criteria requires extra caution.
2. Official recognition and support would enhance their credibility and enable their message to be amplified in the community. Thus, it is important to decide based on the third point.
3. Since moderates are small in number and organization, linking together in robust Islamist networks would amplify the message of liberals and moderates, broaden their appeal, and enable them to compete more effectively with (other more radical) Islamist groups.

How to Support the Moderates?

Partners

An international database of partners(individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, parties, etc) should be developed. Potential target groups for moderate network building efforts include the following:

1. Liberal and secular Muslim academics: Academics from Universities and research centers. This is the primary building block in establishing a strong network. Examples of academic institutions funded by the National Endowment of Democracy include the Islamic Renaissance Front (also the founder of Projek Dialog)
2. Young moderate clerics: Because liberals are not comfortable with engaging mosques, moderate clerics need to translate the ideology into a more religious context, such a way is to have young moderate clerics to propagate such ideas.
3. Community activists: They are most likely to be affected by fatwas and attacks. Thus the network has to seek to protect and support them.
4. Women's groups: There is an upsurge in women's civil society groups against Fundamental Islamism. Thus it provides an opportunity for network building.
5. Journalists, writers and communicators: "To reverse radical trends in the Muslim media, therefore, it will be critical to support local moderate radio and television programming, as well as Web sites and other nontraditional media."

Programmatic Priorities

1. Democratic education: Muslim teachers lack ability to link Islamic teachings with democratic  values. Thus, the Asia Foundation was deceloped to assist moderate ulama to mine Islamic texts and traditions to support democratic values. "The result is a coorpus of writings on fiqh that supports democracy, pluralism, and gender equality."
2. Media: A moderate alternative to the radical media is a critical tool in the war of ideas. Indonesia  provides a great example of such model. An example of media funded by the NED is MKini Dotcom Sdn Bhd.
3. Gender equality:  Promotion of gender equality is a critical component of any project to empower moderate Muslims. Examples of such in Indonesia are Rahima and Fahmina, and Sisters in Islam in Malaysia.
4. Policy advocacy: Islamists use da'wa as policy advocacy. Moderate, liberal, and secular Muslims need to engage in policy advocacy as well. Where Islamists are campaigning for the codification of their particular interpretation of Islam, moderate Muslims need to campaign against legislative discrimination and intolerance. Publicinterest advocates and advocacy groups (human-rights activists, corruption watchdogs, think tanks, etc.) have, in fact, multiplied throughout the Muslim world in recent years. These groups can help to shape a political and legal environment that, in turn, can accelerate the development of democratic civil-society institutions.

Regional Focus

"The thrust of our approach is twofold. The first is to work with Muslim moderates in countries where conditions are more favorable to the development of robust moderate Muslim networks and institutions in order to strengthen these societies against the flow of extreme nSalafist interpretations of Islam emanating from the Middle East. The second is to create channels of communications that will encourage the dissemination of modern and mainstream interpretations of Islam back into the Middle East from moderate Muslims elsewhere. Success in these two areas would hopefully lead to a more balanced equation in which the outflow of radical ideas from the Middle East is counterbalanced by the inflow of more moderate ideas from more enlightened regions of the Muslim world.

Southeast Asian Muslims also offer an obvious area of focus. Although the region is often overlooked in discourse about Islam, Southeast Asia is home to one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in the world. Indonesia, the region’s largest country, is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Moreover, the cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity of the region (in particular the presence of substantial non-Muslim communities) underlies the famously tolerant character of the Southeast Asian practice of Islam. Southeast Asian Muslims are accustomed to coexisting with other cultural and religious traditions"

Launching the Initiative

• Principal goals
• Link Muslim liberals and moderates
• Begin with a known and solid core group and build outward from there
• Exceptions should only be made knowingly, selectively, and tactically
• Reverse the flow of ideas (instead of Arab heartland > periphery, moderate periphery > Arab heartland)
• Focus on areas of maximum obtainable success
• Elsewhere, concentrate on holding ground and waiting for opportunities
• Some key implementation tools
• Convene a small workshop of boots-on-the-ground liberals and moderates to help identify what they would need to become more effective
• Tailor a set of pilot programs on the basis of these needs
• Launch an international network of liberal and moderate Muslims, convening them in a location of symbolic salience
• Reconfigure programs to concentrate on true moderates in locations that hold promise
• Ensure visibility and platforms for them. For example, ensure that they are included in congressional visits and meetings with senior officials to make them better known to policymakers and to maintain support and resources for the effort.

"We propose to launch the initiative recommended in this report with a workshop, to be held in Washington or another appropriate venue, gathering a small, representative group of Muslim moderates. This workshop would serve to obtain their input and their support for the initiative and to prepare the agenda and list of participants for an international conference modeled on the Congress of Cultural Freedom.  

If this event were successful, we would then work with the core group to hold an international conference to be held in a venue of symbolic significance for Muslims, for instance, Córdoba in Spain, to launch a standing organization to combat radical Islamism."

 Part 5: Personal Analysis and Conclusions